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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. lean — thin
  3. drill — a practice
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. drill — the tool
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. lean — to bend
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — music
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. bark — to shout
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. tube — a container
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. swing — to play on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. drill — army training

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com